A New Start
by guywhosings28
Summary: With Kronos defeated, and our two favorite demigods together, it's time for a new start. Takes place right after TLO, P/A
1. I Get What I'm Hoping For

**A/N: This is my first story, and I'm considering it a one-shot for now, but not ruling out continuing it.**

**Disclaimer: No, I obviously don't own PJO, because if I did...well, would I be writing this? I think not.**

Percy Jackson rubbed his eyes as he woke up, and rolled over in his bed to look out the window. He had arrived back in New York a couple days ago, having just returned from Camp Half-Blood. His summer had certainly been interesting, he'd bathed in the River Styx, thus becoming invulnerable in his quest to defeat Kronos, battled monsters on the streets of Manhattan, and defeated aforementioned Titan Lord Kronos. Oh, and he was going out with Annabeth now. He smiled at that thought, as he'd relived the moment when she'd kissed him at Camp hundreds of times by now. Then getting tossed into the lake, and as he thought, pretty much the best underwater kiss ever. Still smiling, he climbed out of bed, and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

--

Showered and dressed, Percy entered the kitchen to find his mother and Paul sitting on the couch, talking. They noticed him enter, and stopped talking at once. He gave them a curious glance.

"What?" he asked, totally oblivious to the grin still plastered on his face.

"Oh, nothing, dear, you just seem happy today." His mother replied, smiling at him.

Still not getting her point, he shrugged, and walked over to find something to eat. As he was searching, a clear, shining veil popped in front of his face. An Iris message! A smile lit his face again as he saw Annabeth in front of him, looking tired, but smiling.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," she greeted.

"Hey," he said, trying to control the blush on his cheeks, "what's up?"

"As I'm sure you can tell, it's about 6:30 here in San Fransisco, but I just wanted to let you know I'm coming to New York to get started on this whole renovating Olympus thing," she said, her face still shining despite the early hour. _Or maybe that's because she looks pretty all the time_, Percy thought to himself.

"I'll be there later today, actually, and I have a couple hours to spare before I get started, so…" she trailed off.

His face lit up all over again. "You want to meet up somewhere? Name the place," he said.

Brushing a lock of hair from her face, she smiled. "I was thinking I'd meet you at your place at say…2:00?"

"Alright, we'll figure things out from there…so, um…see you later, Wise Girl."

"Sounds good, Seaweed Brain." She paused, then added quickly, "I missed you, you know. Even if it's only been a couple days."

Percy blushed furiously again. _That was so…un-Annabeth like._ "I missed you too."

"Well…I'll see you later,"

"Bye, Wise Girl," he added quickly, just as her hand sliced through the message, ending it.

Percy turned around to see his mother and Paul grinning at him, and thus blushed all over again.

"_So, _you and Annabeth?" she said. "It took you long enough!" she said, with a laugh.

Percy sighed. "Oh, erm…yeah."

"You two are pretty cute together," Paul added with a smile.

Percy murmured something about badly-timed Iris messages and sat down at the counter, pondering what he could do with Annabeth later on.

**I know, it's short and all, but I needed to get something up. ;) Reviews appreciated!**

* * *


	2. We Go On a Date, Sort of

**A/N: Thanks for all the feedback for the first chapter, it really helped me with this!**

Percy eventually wandered back to his room, to escape his mother's and Paul's questioning, forgetting his hunger altogether.

_Gods, Annabeth was going to be here in a few hours._ _Come on Seaweed Brain, you can do this._

She'd said she only had a couple hours, so he had to find something fun, but also not time-consuming. He paced back and forth for a couple minutes, before settling on sitting on his bed. He stared out the window at the busy streets, hoping for some inspiration.

He had it! He knew Annabeth loved architecture, and she was going to rebuild Olympus and all, so it was perfect. He quickly got on the internet and booked two spots for an architectural tour of the city.

The site said it would last about an hour and a half, the tickets were surprisingly inexpensive, and it was on a bus, so they wouldn't have to walk. Percy smiled to himself as he printed off the tickets, feeling satisfied.

--

Percy picked the salad he was supposed to be eating for lunch, glancing nervously at his watch. Since when did he start wearing a watch? Since I started dating Annabeth, that's when.

_Why am I so nervous?_ _It's Annabeth we're talking about here!_

He chided himself silently, and thought about trying to comb his hair, but decided against it. His hair had been pretty much impossible to comb as long as he could remember.

He checked his watch again. 1:55. She'd be here in 5 minutes!

Percy's mother, Sally, watched from across the room, smiling to herself.

"Percy, calm down, I'm sure everything will be alright," she said comfortingly.

_That's what she's supposed to say…but maybe she's right. _

"Yeah, you're right, mom."

_Ding, ding._

Percy shot up from his seat, and raced to the door, earning a chuckle from his mother.

He opened the door, and looked straight into the stormy gray eyes he knew so well. He could get lost in them if he wanted to, which was usually a lot.

"Hey," he said a bit dreamily, lost in her eyes.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain. Are you going to ask me to come in or keep staring at me like an idiot?"

She smirked, and Percy literally shook his head to get back to reality.

"Oh, um…sorry about that. Please come in." He stepped aside, and she strode past him into the apartment.

"Annabeth, so nice to see you again!" Sally called, standing and giving her a quick hug. Annabeth looked slightly embarrassed, but smiled anyway.

"You too, Mrs. Jackson."

Percy gave his mother a look that said _Leave, please_, in the most subtle way he could. Taking the hint, she smiled at him and went back to the couch, picking up a magazine. He knew she wouldn't be reading, but listening in on their conversation.

"So, what've you got planned for the next couple hours?" Annabeth asked. "You _do _have something planned, right?"

Percy grinned.

"Of course I do, I'm not that much of a Seaweed Brain!" He said, a bit defiantly. "I can't tell you just yet, though."

"Oh, really? This better be good," she replied in a mocking tone, smiling ever so slightly.

"Trust me, it is."

After calling out goodbye to his mother, he took Annabeth's hand in his and led her out the door. They took the elevator downstairs, and they emerged from the building, headed towards their destination.

--

Percy made sure to check his watch one last time, and smiled. They were right on time. He'd had to dodge a flurry of questions from Annabeth, all of them involving what they were doing. He hated keeping anything from her, but she'd find out soon enough.

Moments later, a large red tour bus pulled up next to the curb, with a rectangular banner attached to the side:

_New York City Architectural Tours. Love New York? Love Archictecture? Then this is the tour for you!_

Percy turned to Annabeth with a hopeful expression on his face, waiting for her reaction. She turned and pecked him on the cheek, smiling brightly.

"Well, I suppose this was worth waiting for. Pretty good idea, for a Seaweed Brain," she commented.

"The one and only! After you, Wise Girl."

She laughed and stepped onto the bus, Percy right behind her. They found a pair of seats by the window, and waited for the tour to start. Percy sighed inaudibly, in relief.

_Good, we made it. Now I just have to keep myself from staring at her the whole time…_

He chuckled to himself, slipping his arm over Annabeth's shoulder as the bus rolled out into the street, beginning what he hoped would be a relaxing hour and a half.

--

Percy had to admit, the tour was pretty interesting. He just found Annabeth a bit more interesting. As the bus traveled through the city, the guide pointing out things every so often, Percy found himself in a sort of daze.

The guide's voice was like background noise, the city traffic didn't bother him, it was all quite relaxing until Annabeth would snap her fingers in front of his face, effectively bring him back to the real world.

"Percy, would you stop staring at me!" She'd said, then she would blush slightly.

He'd blush slightly, too, and say something like, "No offense, Wise Girl, but you are definitely more interesting then some of this stuff."

Her cheeks only reddened more, but she quickly transitioned to a slight smirk.

"None taken, Seaweed Brain. But would you at least _try_ to pay attention? For me?" she pleaded.

He sighed.

"Alright, but only for you."

He scooted closer to her, and she laid her head on his shoulder, smiling contentedly.

"Thanks," she murmured.

He just nodded, liking this setup.

--

He did try to pay attention for the rest of the tour, but it was hard. He felt like he'd done a pretty good job of keeping his eyes from straying to Annabeth's head on his shoulder, but he didn't know for sure, since she'd didn't say much the rest of the time.

Once the tour finally ended, the pair stood and exited the bus, his hand laced in hers. She smiled at him.

"Thanks for that, it really was a great idea," she said, more softly than usual

He smiled back. "No problem, I'm glad you liked it." He paused. "So, is this the part where we kiss goodbye, and I tell you to call me?"

She smirked, and promptly punched him on the shoulder. He thought he saw some blush creeping up her cheeks, though.

He winced slightly, but gave no other reaction. "Invulnerability does have its advantages. For one, that doesn't hurt anymore."

"Stupid invulnerable boyfriend," she muttered, then leaned in and captured his lips in a kiss Effectively silenced, he returned it, and after a few seconds, they broke apart.

She smiled nonchalantly, as if nothing had just happened.

"See you later, I've got a project to start on."

He laughed. "Of course, call me anytime."

With one last smile, she turned and began walking away in the direction of the Empire State Building, calling over her shoulder:

"You can count on that, Seaweed Brain!"

After watching her walk until she was out of sight, he turned and headed for home, realizing his mother would question him to no end about the whole date. As he walked, all he could think about was next time.

**A/N: Once again, thanks for the reviews for the first chapter, they give me confidence! Reviews are good, very good. ******


	3. Bribes, Cookies, and Voicemail

Percy stepped out of the elevator and walked to the door of his apartment. Pulling out his key, he inserted it into the lock and opened the door, stepping inside. He closed the door as quietly as he could, even though it was still late in the afternoon.

The moment he turned around, he saw his mother standing at the kitchen counter, smiling at him. He also noticed a plate of cookies there, and of course, they were blue.

_She's trying to soften me up so I'll tell her how it went. Well, I probably would've anyway._

"Cookie?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied, trying hard to keep a straight face, and reaching for one.

As he was about to take a bite, she finally burst.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Percy, will you just tell me how it went?"

He could've sworn he heard a chuckle from Paul in the other room. He merely smiled at her, since he'd been expecting this.

"Mom, I was going to tell you all along, I just wanted to see how long it'd take you to ask." He took a bite out of the cookie before continuing.

"It, er, went really good, actually. I got us a couple tickets on one of those architectural tours of the city, because she loves that sort of thing. She seemed to really like it…I think I stared at her a bit too much, though…" he added the last bit under his breath.

She didn't seem to catch the last part, because she was smiling as wide as he'd ever seen. She rushed over to him and wrapped him in a hug.

"Oh, Percy…so grown up..."

He was a bit taken aback, but he patted her back before managing to break free. His cheeks bright red, he continued.

"I wish she could've stayed longer though, she kind of had a project to work on."

"Project?" she questioned, having regained her composure now.

"Well, um…yeah, she's sort of rebuilding Olympus. You know, after what happened and all."

"That must be a quite a job," she said, a tinge of wonder in her voice.

"Yeah. She can handle it though, I know it," he said, not realizing he was grinning rather stupidly.

His mother laughed at the look on his face, and he awkwardly tried not to meet her eyes.

"I think you've suffered enough, you can go now," she said, still trying not laugh.

"Mmhmm," he mumbled absently, stuffing the rest of the cookie into his mouth and grabbing another before shuffling off to his room.

Flopping down on his bed, he gobbled down the second cookie and looked out his window again. He let his thoughts wander to Annabeth up on Olympus, holding blueprints, shouting orders, her gray eyes intense all the while. He definitely couldn't wait for her call, to hear her voice again. He dozed off after a while, murmuring about the bad part about being invulnerable before he was out.

--

When he awoke, Percy rubbed his eyes and looked over at his clock. It read: 7:00. He breathed a sigh of relief, since he was quite glad he hadn't slept too long. He stood and grabbed his phone off his bedside table, and noticed he had a new voicemail. Having a feeling who it was from, he smiled and listened to it.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain. Why did I have a feeling you wouldn't answer your phone? I bet you're sleeping. You and that stupid invulnerability of yours…anyway, things are going well so far, this really is exciting, you know! Well, I guess you wouldn't know…and promise me two things. One, that you'll answer your phone next time I call, and two, that you'll come visit sometime soon. It is rather lonely here…So, uh, I'll talk to you later. Bye."

His smile grew as he listened to the message, though he smirked when she made the comment about him being asleep.

_But she was right…she knows me too well._

It wasn't too late yet, so he decided to call her back. He quickly dialed her number and waited. She answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Percy?"

"Well, duh! Who else would it be! I got your voicemail, and I would've answered if I hadn't been, uh, sleeping."

"I knew it!" she said triumphantly. "You really do sleep quite a lot."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, will you still be there tomorrow? I really would like to visit you, see you on the job and stuff, you know," he said.

"Of course I'll be here tomorrow, Seaweed Brain! I'm going to be here for quite a while, since this is Olympus we're talking about here." She paused for a moment. "But yes, please come visit, things do always seem better when you're around," she said softly.

"I will see you tomorrow then, Wise Girl," he said, a smile on his face.

"I look forward to it. So, um, bye."

"See ya," he said, and a second later, he heard a click as she hung up.

He stuck his phone back into his pocket, and walked out of his room and into the kitchen in search of something to eat. That was the other bad part about being invulnerable; he was ravenously hungry all the time.

Grinning a bit stupidly to himself, he let the picture he'd thought of before he'd fallen asleep wander back into his head. Thinking of her was something he'd been doing a lot of lately, and he was fine with that.

A/N: I guess this chapter was mostly a setup for the next one, where he'll go visit her on Olympus. I'm thinking of doing it in Annabeth's POV, but I'd like some feedback before I decide. Review, please!


	4. Annabeth has Concentration Problems

**A/N: You could say this an experiment, because I'm trying this chapter in Annabeth's POV, I hope I did alright!**

_Curse you, Percy Jackson._

Annabeth Chase hadn't slept well, and it was all because of him. Once she'd hung up last night, she had to use all the restraint she had in her to keep from jumping up and down. His messy black hair, his sea green eyes, they had never left her thoughts for the entire night.

_Gods, I'm doing it again. Well, he was doing the same thing yesterday…_

She tried to make an excuse up, but she couldn't deny it. She'd probably been staring at him as much as he had her, but she hadn't accepted it. Whatever. He was going to be here today, and that was all that mattered.

It was still early, so she figured she'd have a while before he got here. She carefully walked through the main street of Olympus, which was still being rebuilt. She looked at the still cracked street, the buildings, damaged and in ruins, statues that had fallen. All chilling reminders of the recent battle for the fate of western civilization itself.

She had so many dreams and plans to make the city as great as it once was, and the drive to make it happen. She smiled. She really was living her dream.

She sat on the steps of a ruined temple, and looked out across the quiet city, waiting. Soon, the sense of peace overtook her, and she fell asleep, right then and there.

--

"Annabeth!"

A familiar voice jerked her awake. Wait…she knew that voice! She opened her eyes, and saw Percy standing in front of her, smiling. Acting on pure impulse, she hopped off the steps and into his arms.

A year ago, that probably would've knocked him backwards and led to a very awkward moment. Now, he looked a bit startled, but with his stupid invulnerability, he managed to wrap his arms around her.

She looked up at him, smiling, and red-faced.

"Um, sorry. That just felt right."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, but smiled too.

"You know, this does feel right, Wise Girl," he said, pulling her closer, and kissing her forehead softly.

_When did Seaweed Brain get so…sweet? I think I'll worry about that later._

They stayed like that for, well…she lost track of the time. But that wasn't important! Well, it wasn't until she heard a wolf whistle from somewhere behind them that they broke apart, both blushing furiously.

"Hey, I think I should get to work…it's what I'm here for, after all," she said.

"Yeah, sorry for, er, that," he said, sounding slightly nervous.

"Seaweed Brain, don't worry about it, I'd been looking forward to that, actually."

He smiled in what looked like relief.

"Oh, good. Now get to work, I really am interested to see how things work with you at the helm," he said with a wink.

"C'mon," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along towards what would surely be an interesting day.

--

A couple hours later, Annabeth was in all-out architect mode. She had blueprints, pens, pencils, and everything else she needed as she walked throughout the city. Of course, Percy was next to her the whole time, looking on in what she thought was a mixture of wonder and confusion.

He'd flash her a smile, or squeeze her hand for no real reason other than that he could, and she'd want to melt right there, but she forced herself to concentrate.

"Wise Girl, you sure know how to-"

He was cut off as she shouted an order at someone, then turned back to him.

"What?"

"I said, you sure know how to run things smoothly," he smiled, then added, "and look cute doing it, too."

She held back the urge to punch him, an urge that didn't come around as much anymore, and smiled shyly.

"Um…thanks."

"Anytime," he said, as if that summed it up.

_Such a Seaweed Brain. But a cute Seaweed Brain, at that._

She dragged him along somewhere else, her mind working quickly to accommodate the goals she had set for the day. She knew he'd grow bored soon enough, but she also knew the fact that she was there would keep him happy.

Sometime later in the afternoon, they sat down for a snack on the steps of a temple that had steps that were still intact. As they ate, they looked out at the city, and even though so much damage had been done, it was still a sight to see.

"I don't think I can imagine how beautiful this place will be, when you're done with it," Percy said.

"Don't try to flatter me, Percy," she retorted back.

"I'm not. I mean it."

Something in his eyes told her he _did_ mean it. She nodded to him.

"I don't think I can imagine it either, really. This is beyond anything I ever dreamed of, just doing this…and some part of me never wants it to end."

"Whenever it does, I think the Gods will be proud they chose you for the job," he said. His eyes seemed to shine when he said it, and he leaned over to softly kiss her cheek.

"I hope so," she said dreamily, her stomach fluttering.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, she stood and headed back to work, Percy right by her side.

--

The rest of the day passed quickly, and Percy and Annabeth stood in the elevator that took them back to the mortal world. Annabeth yawned widely as she leaned against Percy, the elevator humming quietly as it zoomed downward.

"Long day, eh, Wise Girl?" Percy said, absently playing with a strand of her hair.

"You can say that again, Seaweed Brain," she replied. "I'm really glad you came."

He smiled. "No problem. I'll come anytime you want me to, at least for the rest of this summer."

"Good," she said, smiling up at him.

The doors opened, and he took her hand as they walked out of the elevator, and then the building. The sun was beginning to go down, casting a breathtaking sight across the horizon.

"I've been meaning to ask you, where are you staying while you're here?" Percy said.

"Oh, I've been staying with my half-sister, she has an apartment here. Why do you ask?"

"I feel like it's my duty as your boyfriend to walk you home, like in movies and stuff," he said, grinning.

She laughed. "You are such a Seaweed Brain! But, yes, I would love that."

"Yes, I am. That's why I'm glad you said yes, because I wouldn't have taken no for an answer." He pulled her close to him as they walked, something that felt so right to them both now.

_Things couldn't get any better_, she thought to herself.

**A/N: I spent a lot of time trying to get this right, so I hope you all liked it! Review!**


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